What do aquatic plants actually need to grow well? Every new planted-tank keeper asks this sooner or later. The answer comes down to four factors that work together. If one of them is missing, the others cannot make up for it, and growth slows to the level of the weakest link.
1. Light
Light powers photosynthesis, but more is not automatically better. Plants differ widely in what they need. Mosses, ferns and Anubias are content with modest light, while red and fine-leaved stem plants need much stronger lighting, along with more CO2 and nutrients to match. Many nurseries label plants by difficulty, which is a helpful guide when choosing plants for your light.
If plants are struggling, adding light is not always the cure. Often the bottleneck is CO2 or nutrients, and extra light without them simply feeds algae.
2. CO2
Carbon is the element plants use most, and in an aquarium without injection it is nearly always in short supply. Adding CO2 speeds up growth dramatically, makes demanding stem plants possible and improves the health of even the easiest species. Systems range from simple starter kits to pressurised cylinders with a precise CO2 regulator. Browse our CO2 equipment to build a setup that fits your tank.
3. Micronutrients
Trace elements are needed in tiny amounts, and iron is the most important of them: without it plants cannot build chlorophyll, and new leaves turn pale. A complete micronutrient fertiliser supplies iron together with manganese, zinc, boron and the other trace elements. LGND Florebit Ferrum Fe is a concentrated iron source, and LGND Heaven provides the full trace element spectrum.
4. Macronutrients
Nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) are needed in much larger quantities, yet they are the part of fertilisation most often overlooked. Fish waste and decaying food release some nitrogen and phosphate, but in a well-planted tank this falls short of what the plants use. Potassium is hardly present in waste at all. Macronutrients can be dosed as single components, LGND Nitrogen, LGND Phosphat and LGND Potassium, or together with micronutrients in an all-in-one product such as LGND Avalon.
Keep these four pillars in balance and you have the basis of a healthy, algae-resistant planted aquarium. Part II explains how to classify your tank and choose the right starting dose.